Cake with Fondant Peony

This is a 3-layer 8" round frosted in buttercream with a handmade mmf peony (my first ever!).  Read the full post for more information.
I added a buttercream monogram and polka dots for added texture on the sides of the cake.  It is far from perfect, but this cake is a rare one, in that I baked, made frosting and decorated it all in one afternoon (except for the peony, which took hours off and on to make and dry).  I typically make icing one day, bake the next day, decorate the following day, then deliver. However, our little ice storm in NC took out a transformer above our house and we were without power for 12 hours the day I would have baked....so, everything was pushed to the following day.  It is not as picture perfect as I would like, but I am proud of that peony.  I googled fondant peony tutorial and found some interesting step by step pictures and just winged it. I used a 1" metal leaf cutter that I had reshaped into rough edges, and cut out just a couple "petals" at a time.  I laid them on my thin shaping sponge (a Wilton product) and rolled the edges really thin with the end of my small fondant roller, and with a ball-tip fondant shaper, to give it those ruffled edges.  The inside of my closed peony is a ping pong ball!  The tutorial I was following used a Styrofoam ball, but I did not have one handy, but I did have ping pong balls.  I used 18 gauge wire (about 12 inches) and folded the wire in half, pressing firmly through the ball, so both ends of the wire went separately through one side, then the other.  They must go in and come out their own opening, so the ends of the wire can be twisted together to keep them in place.  I then started laying the petals over the ball, completely covering it, gluing down with a little water.  Each consecutive layer was opened a bit more than the previous one.  The last couple of layers (at the bottom of the flower) have larger petals.  It took a lot of time, but wasn't really difficult, and I love the challenge of trying something new.  I was really happy with the results.  I left the wires intact and used them to insert into a straw placed in the cake (to keep the wires out of the cake!).  Happy caking!